Peziza vesiculosa

The bladder cup, Peziza vesiculosa Bull.

Synonyms

Aleuria vesiculosa (Bull.) Gillet
Galactinia vesiculosa (Bull.) Le Gal
Helvella vesiculosa (Bull.) Bolton
Pustularia vesiculosa (Bull.) Fuckel
Scodellina vesiculosa (Bull.) Gray

Common Names

Bladder Cup
Blistered Cup
Common Dung Cup
Orange Fairy-cup

Description

Fruiting body: cupulate at first, expanding, becoming flattened, often irregular in outline, up to 15 cm broad, the upper surface smooth, bright orange, the lower surface white or whitish, attached only to the center. Usually gregarious or densely caespitose.
Flesh: thin, fragile.
Spore print: pale yellow.
Spores: colorless, ellipsoid, smooth; 20-24 x 11-14 µm.
Habitat: on the ground, usually in wet gravely or sandy soils.
Season: late summer to early winter, less abundant in the spring.

Medicinal properties

Immunostimulatory effects

Vesiculogen, a hot-water extractable mitogen from P. vesiculosa, was shown be a polyclonal B cell activator in mice (Suzuki et al., 1985). This activity was shown earlier to be not due to polysaccharides (Yadomae et al., 1979). The mitogenicity of vesiculogen is due to the presence of anionic groups (such as aspartate and glutamate) (Ohno et al., 1984). Furthermore, the mitogen was determined to be a high-molecular weight, acidic polypeptide, showing charge and weight heterogeneities (Ohno et al., 1986).

The immunomodulatory vesiculogen was shown to have antitumor activity against both solid and ascite forms of Sarcoma 180 in mice (Suzuki, 1982). Additionally, an antitumor β-1,3-glucan has been purified and characterized (Mimura et al., 1985). The glucan is branched at position 6 of every fifth 3-substituted β-glucosyl unit. The glucan was assayed against solid form Sarcoma 180 tumor cells in mice, and showed growth inhibition of more than 90% at 75, 150, 300 µg/dose x 10 days. A significant difference from the control was observed at all glucan doses.

Mimura H, Ohno N, Suzuki I, Yadomae T.
Purification, antitumor activity, and structural characterization of β-1,3-glucan from Peziza vesiculosa.
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) 1985 33(11):5096-9.

Ohno N, Suzuki I, Miyazaki T, Yadomae T.
Requirement of anionic groups for the mitogenicity of a fungal mitogen, vesiculogen.
Microbiol Immunol. 1984 28(7):821-30.

Ohno N, Mimura H, Suzuki I, Yadomae T.
Antitumor activity and structural characterization of polysaccharide fractions extracted with cold alkali from a fungus, Peziza vesiculosa.
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) 1985 33(6):2564-8.

Ohno N, Mimura H, Suzuki I, Yadomae T.
Chemical characterization of a fungal B-cell mitogen obtained from the fruit body of Peziza vesiculosa.
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) 1986 34(5):2112-7.

Suzuki I, Yadomae T, Yonekubo H, Nishijima M, Miyazaki T.
Antitumor activity of an immunomodulating material extracted from a fungus, Peziza vesiculosa.
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) 1982 30(3):1066-8.

Suzuki I, Yonekubo H, Ohno N, Miyazaki T, Yadomae T.
Effect of a B cell mitogen extracted from a fungus Peziza vesiculosa on antibody production in mice.
J Pharmacobiodyn. 1985 8(7):494-502.

Yadomae T, Suzuki I, Kumazawa Y, Miyazaki T.
A B lymphocyte mitogen extracted from a fungus Peziza vesiculosa.
Microbiol Immunol. 1979 23(10):997-1008.